You will have an Interpretive Listening Task this Friday. It will count as part of your grade in the 65% summary weighed grade section.
You will have 20 listening multiple-choice questions, and 15 matching.
The genres that are marked by asterisks (*) may appear as bonus points.
You will not be able to use any notes for the Listening Section.
Example of the Listening Section: play this hyperlink Example Hyperlink
(Caution, don’t look at your computer screen until your guess).
A) Cumbia B) Plena
C) Rock en Español
You will be able to use your Latin Music USA notes for the Matching Section.
Examples of the Matching Section may be based on the following:
 the origin and/or history of the music genre, or famous people.
 the type of beat in association of the selected music genre.
 the kind of musical instruments that are associated by the selected music genre
 names of unique Latin musical instruments
Example 1: Salsa originated in what location:
A) New York City B) Miami C) East Los Angeles
Example 2: The reggaetón
genre’s rhythm is known as:
A) Clave B) Montuno C) Dem Bow
Example 3: Conjunto music is known for how many typical instruments?
A) two B) three C) four
Example 4: Which IS an example of Afro-Cuban percussion:
A) el Guitarrón B) La Tambora
C) el Acordeón
Example 5: Which name is associated with the Salsa Movement.
A) Chano Pozo
B) Willy Colón C) René Touret
The following information is a summary of the different genres of Latin Music as found from
Latin Music USA’s website.
Bachata
This genre of music comes from the Dominican Republic. It has an one-and-two beat (2/4) and features bongos and what could be described as a tight electric guitar accompaniment. It has its own dance. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/bachata/universe
Bolero
Boleros originally come from Cuba, but now are universal all over the Spanish-speaking world.
This genre is a slow, romantic style that features love ballad lyrics. It may feature strings, quartets. Tropical beat may include maracas, guiro, and bongos. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/bolero/listen

Boogaloo
From New York City, this 1960’s era of music features a blue chord progression, a R&B rhythm and a jazzy, flunky melody. Hand clapping may be heard in the background, as to denote excitement. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/boogaloo/listen
Bomba
Puerto Rican genre with drums and voice, no other instruments traditionally. It features drumming patterns that originated from West Africa. There is a “call and response” singing between the main singer, followed by the chorus. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/bomba/listen
Cha-cha-cha
This Cuban genre came out from the Mambo Dance Craze of the 1950’s. Its rhythm and dance pattern of 1-2-3-cha-cha (-cha) is the key for its identification. Many rock and roll songs of the
1960’s owned their beat to the Cha-cha-cha. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/chachacha/listen
Chicano Rock*
From the USA, the name "Chicano Rock" does not solely refer to a specific musical style, but rather to how young Mexican-Americans in California (Chicanos) fused their various musical influences--from R&B to Mambo and from Corridos to Rock--into a new sound all their own. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/chicanorock/universe
Conga
The city of Santiago de Cuba is well known for its festival parades, featuring groups of musicians and costumed dancers performing choreographed routines. The parades and the groups that perform in them are called comparsas . On the parade route, people who are not part of the comparsa join in by playing on whatever instrument they can get their hands on, or just simply dancing and following along. This group of people, and the contagious dance they do
("1-2-3-kick"), are both called Conga. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/conga/listen
Conjunto
This polka beat of “oomph-pah-pah” music comes from the Texas and Mexico. It is similiar to the “corrido” and “norteño”, but the instrumentation is much simpler, due to typically featuring just the accordion and the bajo sexto as instruments. The accordion plays either the melody or flourishes, the bajo sexto plays the bass part and the off-beat rhythm. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/conjunto/listen
Corridos
Corridos come from Mexico and are ballads that usually have an one-and-two beat (2/4 time signature). Corridos tell stories of historical events, famous people, and current events.
Similiarly to the Conjuncto, accordions may play side-melodies (flourishes). The bajo sexto or guitar may play the off-beat notes, and tubas the umph-pa-pa polka beat. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/corrido/listen
Cumbia
Both a genre and the name of a dance, the cumbia comes from traditionally Colombia.
Cumbia relies on a rhythmic pattern that accentuates upbeats, and is less syncopated but no less complex than Afro-Cuban rhythms. It features a bass pattern based on the Dem Bow beat
(Boom, da boom da boom, da Boom da boom da boom...). Off-beats may be played by either guitar, accordion, keyboard. The use of maracas, clave, or the cow bell may mark the beat. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/cumbia/listen

Danzón
From Cuba, this is old school, ballroom dancing music. Orchestra sound (String and band instruments). It is slow and stately, meant for formal dancing. This was popular during the latter half of the 19 th
century and popular up to the 1930s. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/danzon/universe
Eastside Sound*
In the 1950s and 60s, young Mexican-Americans (Chicanos) living in the sprawling neighborhood of East Los Angeles produced a unique sound that became a soundtrack for their generation. Overlooked by most of the music industry, these Chicano musicians found the support they needed in a handful of producers and DJs such as Bob Keane, Eddie Davis, Billy
Cardenas, and Dick Hugg. Ritchie Valens was an icon, for achieving mainstream Rock & Roll success in his short career, but Eastside musicians were even more influenced by the R&B and
Doo-Wop sounds of their African-American neighbors. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/eastsidesound/universe
Hip hop
Like its namesake, hip hop with a Latin flavor will feature Afro-Cuban percussion and
Spanglish lyrics. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/hiphop/listen
Latin Jazz
Like its namesake, Jazz with a Latin flavor will feature Afro-Cuban percussion and Spanish lyrics. Clave rhythms, including the use of vibraphones, and the unique sound of Brazil’s Bossa
Nova make this genre a multi-faceted one. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/latinjazz/universe
Latin Pop
Like its namesake, Pop music with a Latin flavor will feature Latin horns, Afro-Cuban percussion, and Spanish and/or English lyrics. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/latinpop/listen
Mambo
The Mambo is an up-tempo dance music that appeared in Cuba in the late 1930s, and which by
1950 had taken the Latin dance world by storm. It is characterized by big band arrangements where multiple saxophones play repeated syncopated phrases, blaring trumpets punctuate the beat, all over a full rhythm and percussion section. The Mambo's tremendous popularity didn't come from Cuba, but from two cities where the music took root: New York City and Mexico
City. Accompanied by a sultry partner dance that appeared in New York's Mambo clubs,
Mambo Madness peaked in the U.S. in the 1950s, and faded as Rock & Roll appeared, and the
Cuban Revolution changed the U.S.-Cuba relationship. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/mambo/listen
Merengue
This dance and genre is from the Dominican Republic. This upbeat tempo features the sounds of the guiro/guira and the use of the tambora . Saxophones and trumpets play back and forth, in between the lyrics, adding to and punctuating the beat. A thumping electric bass may hold the dance beat. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/merengue/listen
Miami Sound*
Following the Castro revolution of 1959, Cuban exiles fled to Miami. Soon Cuban-American musicians began blending their rich musical traditions with the Rock, R&B, and Disco sounds of the United States. By adapting Latin (primarily Cuban) rhythms with Pop or Rock melodies and instruments...it was a soundtrack for young Cuban-Americans who sought a musical

expression of their bi-national identity. Some songs were Cubanized versions of popular
English-language tracks, while others sounded like a smoother version of the hard New York
Salsa that dominated Latin markets by the late 70s. Willy Chirino and Gloria and Emilio
Estefan's Miami Sound Machine are two famous examples. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/miamisound/listen
Norteño*
Folk music from working-class northern Mexico has long been called Norteño (literally: from the north), but for years it was essentially the same as Conjunto , the music played by Tejano
(Texas-Mexican) musicians across the border. Both Norteño and Conjunto shared the musical legacy of German settlers. It wasn't until the 1960s and 70s that Norteño groups, such as Los
Bravos del Norte, began developing a distinct sound, relying more on the narrative style of
Corrido, singing with a nasal tone reminiscent of older Mexican groups, and settling on a fourinstrument lineup (accordion, bajo sexto, electric bass, and drum kit). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/norteno/listen
Plena
Plena is a relatively recent Afro-Puerto Rican music form that developed at the start of the 20th century. Played primarily on small hand drums called panderetas , Plena is characterized by narrative lyrics that chronicle all aspects of Puerto Rican life, from the mundane to the sensational. Similiar to Bomba , you have a call and response between the main singer and the chorus. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/plena/listen
Polka
Originally from Europe, the polka was brought over to Texas and the Northern Part of Mexico by German settlers, whose traditional oomph-pa-pa sound of accordions, clarinets, trumpets, tubas and drum sets eventually gave rise to the sounds of the Conjunto , Corrido , and Norteño . http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/polka/listen
Ranchera
Ranchera (ranch music), features powerful, booming, sustained vocal performances that deal with the emotional and dramatic themes such as love or betrayal. It may be played to Mariachi music to a Bolero rhythm or a Conjunto ensemble to a Polka-beat. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/ranchera/listen
Reggaetón
Reggaetón comes from the Carribean, with its hip hop lyric, to the driving bass and rhythm of the Dem Bow beat (Boom, da boom, da Boom, da boom, da Boom). It also has influences from
Bomba, Plena, and Salsa and Reggae . http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/reggaeton/listen
Rock en Español
Like its namesake, this kind of Rock will feature a more Latin flavor, including Spanish lyrics,
Afro-Cuban percussion, Latin horns and rhythms. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/rockenespanol/listen
Rumba
Similar to the call and response like Bomba y Plena , Rumba comes from Cuba. You will hear the clave marking out the rhythm, along with other Afro-Cuban percussion. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/rumba/listen

Salsa
Born in New York City in the 1960s and 70s, Salsa is a hybrid of traditional rhythms from Cuba
(Son ) and Puerto Rico (Bomba y Plena ), with influences from Jazz and R&B. Primarily a dance genre, it is characterized by syncopated arrangements in clave rhythm, Spanish lyrics, and a strong rhythmic pulse punctuated by the trumpet or trombone. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/salsa/listen
Son
The Son is perhaps the most influential Cuban musical form. A fusion of African rhythms and
Spanish guitar and lyrics, the Son came from the rural mountains of eastern Cuba (Oriente).
Less African than the percussive and improvised Rumba , and less European than the stiff and formal
Danzón
, in the 1920s, the Son quickly found its place as the most popular dance music on the island. Bongo, maracas, claves, guitar, tres (a small guitar-like instrument), and bass formed the typical Son sextets, which sometimes became septets with the addition of a trumpet.
In Son a singer (sonero ) sings the lyrics, usually two verses, four lines each, and then gives way to the montuno , the section of the song where energetic, improvised call-and-responses between the sonero and the band occur. Like the music, the Son dance broke free of the
Danzón's stiffness with movements in the Son clave and-responses between the sonero and the band occur. Like the music, the Son dance broke free of the
Danzón's
stiffness with movements in the Son clave rhythm. These movements contributed to Son's popularity, and
Son's rhythms and dance were essential to the development of Latin dance, including the global
Salsa movement. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/son/listen
Tejano*
The adjective Tejano (literally: Texan) can be applied to any Texas-born genre, like Conjunto and the music of Orquesta Tejana . As a distinct genre, Tejano music combines sounds from these traditions as well as other popular U.S. influences such as Rock, Country and Pop.
Although bands like Little Joe & the Latinaires played electric guitar and keyboards in their music in the late 60s, the modern Tejano sound emerged in the late 70s and early 80s with two groups from Texas. El Grupo Mazz, from Brownsville, was the first to replace the big band horn section with synthesizers, and to play slower ballads alongside the Polka-Ranchera . La
Mafia, from Houston, TX, also adopted the synthesizer sound, played primarily Cumbias , and made music videos and flashy stage shows to attract a wider audience. In the late 80s and early
90s, Selena y Los Dinos dominated the scene with their Pop Tejano sound. Major record labels and corporations took notice, and promoted this Tejano sound internationally. Selena's tragic murder in 1995 shocked the Tejano music world, and the genre lost prominence beyond the borders of Texas. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/latinmusicusa/#/en/exp/tejano/universe